A Soldier's Transformation Poem by Randy McClave

On tombs names were carved
Where man first had starved,
Man searched for food to be fed
But, he couldn't find any so soon he was dead.
A soldier arrived with a shield and a sword
Victory and a medal was his reward,
He was accomplished only at his killing
To take another’s life he was always willing.
He looked about himself for someone to battle
But, all that he found was acreage and cattle,
Life and not death was there to be found
Death was the master to which he was bound.
Now he was the soldier without a war
Then his stomach it began to roar,
He was the hero to all in his nation
But, he knew soon that he would die from starvation.
He murdered and he killed and took so many lives
He orphaned children, and widowed wives,
On the tip of his sword there once dripped blood
Now, he only wants to walk into the mud.
Into this ground his soul he would now bury
This was his Eden and to it he would be merry,
Murder and death would no longer be his master
On the tomb he would cover up his name with plaster.
He then dropped his sword and his shield
As he walked hungrily into the field,
Then he chose a hoe as his new armor
The soldier survived by becoming the farmer.

Randy L. McClave